Former minister warns of Okinawa unrest & possible move for secession

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Cherrie Lou Billones in National with 10 Comments
Former minister warns of Okinawa unrest & possible move for secession

Shozaburo Jimi, minister-in-charge of financial services and postal reform under the previous government, told local media on January 30 that with Okinawa’s history of having “independence movements and movements for self-governance” it is not so unlikely that they would want to cede from the central government in order to be its own independent state. “Domestic guerrilla (struggles) could occur as a result of separatist movements,” and that “terrorist bombings could occur in Tokyo, depending on how the state handles” the issue on the United States military bases in Okinawa, said Jimi.

The statements of Jimi are seen as an attempt to persuade the central government to lessen the burden of the southern Japanese prefecture, the very reluctant host of more than half of the total 47,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan. His comments come after it was announced that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to go on a one-day visit to the prefecture this weekend. It will be remembered that one of Abe’s policies, upon taking office, is the strengthening of the Japan-U.S. military alliance, and that he has already said that he will proceed with the unpopular plan to transfer the Futenma military airbase from a severely populated area to one that is less dense, but still within the Okinawa Prefecture.

Domestic terrorism plagued Japan all throughout the 60s and 70s, where the country saw a huge social upheaval of radicalist and student movements. But Japan has since escaped the damages brought about by organized political violence, for the most part. However, as Jimi opined, it is not impossible for us to witness its return. After all, the already quarrelsome relationship between the U.S. military and its hosts in Okinawa just keeps getting uglier.

[via FMT]
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  • Hachiro

    My goodness this guy is a nutter if I ‘ve ever heard one before. He is implying something that is totally unreasonable and illogical as well.

    The Okinawan people have been integrated into Japanese culture and society and have been a part of Japan since the mid-1800′s. There are just too many reasons to write here to explain how off the mark and twisted his remarks are.

    It makes one get the impression that there is something seriously “wrong” with him and he shouldn’t be making statements in public.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/6JIKBJD5JKIT5I342USPPX74LQ D

      Nutter — absolutely. But it is not unreasonable for the Okinawan people to want independence. They may share the culture, but no Okinawan I’ve met ever stated they are Japanese.
      Now, would it be smart to cede from Japan? — as you said, too many reasons to explain here how off the mark that notion is. But when people are arguing from passions instead of logic, you can throw those reasons out the window.

      • Hachiro

        But every Okinawan you will meet would have to carry a Japanese passport and they all know that too.

        The younger generation of kids will tell you they are Japanese, that’s how integrated they have become.

        • Anna Preble

          I know this is a very old discussion, but as an Okinawan who was born after 1972 I totally disagree with this comment. Passports correspond to state citizenship, not nationhood. I grow weary of these rather arrogant statements that Okinawans now think of themselves as Japanese. This is blatantly FALSE.

  • Michael Chattick

    Everone here is missing one vital point and that is the treaty US put in place that gives them Okinawa.
    Believe last new treaty still has Japanese sovereignty playing second fidfle to US military.
    IT is in fact a military zone.
    PEOPLE of Okinawa are not Japanese culturally but do look to being a part of Japanese Nation.
    Main point Okinawa is making now has to do with Islands; Okinawa is a chain of Islands; and US building series of bases on them for VTOL AND CHOPPEES. RErest of islands not part of old traty.

    • Hachiro

      Michael this is false information the US Military is not building a series of bases on any of the islands in the prefecture of Okinawa for the Osprey.

      They are trying to get one done at Camp Schwab and a heliport in the northern area of Okinawa at the NTA, Northern Training Area, but have been held up for years by politics.

      The US does not “own” Okinawa either, it was a protectorate of the US from the end of WWII until 1972 when it reverted back to Japanese control.

      To anyone thinking that the island is going “back” to the “Okinawans” is ludicrous, it would be like the Native American’s getting Manhattan back, and everyone knows that isnt going to happen either.

    • Hachiro

      This deserves it own special post:

      Michael, your comments: Everone here is missing one vital point and that is the treaty US put in place that gives them Okinawa.

      No this is blatantly false. There is NO treaty that gives the US Okinawa. None, nada, nothing…..I’ve been living and working on Okinawa for nearly 30 years, I know more about the history, from BOTH the US and Japanese sides than most people alive here today.

      Believe last new treaty still has Japanese sovereignty playing second fidfle to US military.

      This also is blatantly wrong. The US military bases on Okinawa are using land that is leased from the local landowners who are paid rent for the use of their land. Yes many lost their land while the island was under US control but they are and have been compensated very well afterwards. Much land has been returned as well and….

      IT is in fact a military zone.

      This is false too. The bases account for roughly 5% to 8% of Okinawa’s GDP and while they hold somewhere in the neighborhood of 18% of the main island of Okinawa’s land a huge percentage of that is in the jungle training area in the north. While the other bases take up quite a bit of space, if you came to Okinawa and stayed in the capital city of Naha you would probably only see one tiny port and maybe NO US military personal at all.

      Please don’t spread false information about Okinawa

      • -observer-

        the people of Okinawa can and will determine their own fate. whether they choose to be japanese or not is up to them.

  • hidflect

    Okinawa is totally dependent on the Japanese mainland for financial support. That will be the determiner on the end.

  • InnerCynic

    So when do the Japanese/Okinawans actually “get” their island back? Is this a case of perpetual occupation? Korea? Germany? Italy? and hundreds of other bases and outposts across the globe. If those aren’t the earmarks of an empire I don’t know what is.